Vehicle mounted controller

ABSTRACT

A vehicle mounted control apparatus includes voice recognition section for recognizing a voice command input by an voice input device; and a control section that analyzes a cause of incapability of recognition of the voice command when the voice command cannot be recognized by the voice recognition section and gives a notice on result of the analysis.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a vehicle mounted control apparatus forperforming a control in accordance with a voice command.

2. Description of the Related Art

There has conventionally been provided a car navigation apparatus thatoutputs a conversational operating instruction by means of a screen or avoice to assist the key entry of a command by a user (for example,patent document 1).

Moreover, a car navigation apparatus that can directly receive a commandby a voice in a command execution mode while it does not display anoperating procedure, has also been provided as a method capable ofentering a command more quickly by entering a conversational command.

[Patent Document] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-97719

However, when a command by a voice (hereinafter referred to as “voicecommand”) is entered to a car navigation apparatus, depending on user'svocal conditions (for example, the level of voice uttered by a user),the car navigation apparatus cannot recognize the voice in some cases.In these cases, the user cannot understand which of the followingreasons makes it impossible for the car navigation apparatus torecognize the voice and hence is embarrassed: a voice command isimproperly issued; vocal conditions are not good; and further, theapparatus is not operated because a switch for performing voicerecognition is not pressed.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehiclemounted control apparatus that can inform a user about the state ofrecognition of a voice command uttered by the user in such a way thatthe user can easily understand the state of recognition.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A vehicle mounted control apparatus of the present invention includesvoice recognition section for recognizing a voice command input by anvoice input device; and a control section that analyzes a cause ofincapability of recognition of the voice command when the voice commandcannot be recognized by the voice recognition section and gives a noticeon result of the analysis.

By this arrangement the control apparatus can provide the user with anoccasion of practice of operation when the user wants to know anoperating method and makes the user acquire the operation effectively.Moreover, the vehicle mounted control apparatus can also finish learninga parameter for recognizing the voice of the user through the practicefor acquiring this operating method. Hence, it is possible to produce aneffect of improving the rate of voice recognition and decreasing a workof the user even if the user does not conduct an additional work ofinputting voice for the vehicle mounted control apparatus to be learnedabout voice of the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a function block diagram to show a vehicle mounted controlapparatus in accordance with embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view to show the driver's seat of a vehicle onwhich is mounted the vehicle mounted control apparatus in accordancewith embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart to show the whole processing of the vehiclemounted control apparatus in accordance with embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 4A, 4B are illustrations to show the display content of a displaydevice in the vehicle mounted control apparatus in accordance withembodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4A illustrates the displaycontent in which is displayed an icon for displaying the state ofreception of voice and FIG. 4B illustrates the display content by whichis displayed providing the user with the state of operation.

FIG. 5 is an illustration to show the display content of the displaydevice in the vehicle mounted control apparatus of embodiment of thepresent invention and illustrates a change in the display mode of ascreen.

FIGS. 6A, 6B are illustrations to show the display content of a displaydevice in the vehicle mounted control apparatus in accordance withembodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6A illustrates the displaycontent to provide the user with a menu capable of providing guidance onan operation and FIG. 6B illustrates the display content to provide theuser with the content of a selected operation.

FIG. 7 is an illustration to show the correspondence between analysisresult and display format which is stored in memory of the vehiclemounted control apparatus of embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an illustration to show the correspondence between the contentof voice command and their example sentences which are stored in memoryof the vehicle mounted control apparatus of embodiment of the presentinvention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In order to describe the present invention in more detail, the best modefor carrying out the present invention will be hereafter described withreference to the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment 1

FIG. 1 shows a vehicle mounted control apparatus of this embodiment 1and a car navigation apparatus is here shown as one example of theapparatus. In FIG. 1, a main device 1 includes a control section 2constructed of a microprocessor or the like, a memory 3 that isconnected to the control section 2 and stores programs and various kindsof data, a map information storage section 4 that is also connected tothe control section 2 and stores the digital data of maps, and a voicerecognition section 5 that recognizes voice signals entered from amicrophone 8 (voice input device). The control section 2 has a functionthat controls a display device 6 connected to the main device 1 anddisplays route information and road information necessary for navigationon the display device 6. As for the display device 6, a liquid crystaldisplay device is generally used but all types of display devices can beused. The display device 6 may be integrated with the main device 1 ormay be integrally embedded in a portion of interior surface of avehicle.

The control section 2 calculates the position of this apparatus itselfby a calculation method using a publicly known technology from signalsthat are sent by a plurality of satellites and received by a GPS (GlobalPositioning System) antenna 7. The microphone 8 (voice input device)converts user's voice into an electric signal and outputs the electricsignal to the voice recognition section 5. The speaker 9 outputs voices,effect sounds, and sounds of music on the basis of the control ofcontrol section 2.

The interface 10 has a function of relaying the operational statussignals of electronic devices of the car and control signals to theseelectronic devices, for example, a control device of an air conditioner,head lights, and sensors for detecting the on-off states of a wiper andthe head lights (all of which are not shown), between the controlsection 2 of the apparatus and these electronic devices.

The input device 11 is a device to detect a command from a user and tooutput a signal corresponding to this command to the control section 2.As this input device 11 can be used various types of input devicescapable of converting a user's command into a signal, for example, oneor a plurality of buttons, a tablet, a touch sensor mounted on thedisplay device 6, a joystick, and a lever mounted on a vehicle body.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the driver's seat of a vehicle to whicha vehicle mounted control apparatus in accordance with this embodimentis applied.

A conversation starting switch 12 is a device for outputting to thecontrol section 2 a signal to inform that the switch 12 is pressed bythe user when it is pressed by the user. The microphone 8 is mounted ina position where driver's voice can be easily input, for example, on adashboard forward of the driver's seat, and the conversation startingswitch 12 is mounted in a position where the user can easily press itduring driving the vehicle without interfering with driving the vehicle,for example, on a steering wheel.

This vehicle mounted control apparatus has two operation modes of acommand execution mode and an operation guidance mode.

First, the command execution mode is a mode for performing an ordinaryoperation. In the command execution mode, when a user inputs voice tothe apparatus, the voice recognition section 5 recognizes a voicecommand from the user and the control section 2 executes a processingcorresponding to the voice command. By this command execution mode, itis possible to control various kinds of vehicle mounted electronicdevices, for example, to set a destination and to start a route guidancein navigation, and to control air volume of an air conditioner and anaudio device, and to control electronic devices provided outside thevehicle through the Internet, such as an electronic device forelectronic mail and Internet ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems).

On the other hand, the operation guidance mode is a mode for giving theuser a description of a method for performing voice input and the usercan recognize the operating procedure and voice command of the vehiclemounted apparatus without looking at an operating manual. At this point,switching between the command execution mode and the operation guidancemode can be performed, for example, by pressing a selector button or byselecting a menu displayed on the display device 6.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of control section 2 that shows the commandexecution mode and the operation guidance mode. First, when the vehiclemounted apparatus is started, an initial screen at startup is displayed(step ST1). The control section 2 displays a message of “Please select auser” on the initial screen and displays a list of a plurality of userspreviously registered in the memory 3. The user looking at this displayselects his own name from the list and inputs to the input device 11.The control section 2 detects a signal input to the input device 11 andidentifies the user on the basis of this signal (step ST2).

Next, the control section 2 detects an input signal from the inputdevice 11 or the conversation starting switch 12 and checks whether thisinput signal is a signal to select executing an operation guidance modeor a signal to select executing a processing of command execution mode(step ST3). Here, when the user presses down the conversation startingswitch 12, the control section 2 executes the processing of commandexecution mode at steps ST4 to ST8. On the other hand, when the userselects the operation guidance mode, the control section 2 executes aprocessing of operation guidance mode at steps ST10 and ST11.

First, the operation of vehicle mounted apparatus in the commandexecution mode will be described.

First, the control section 2 waits for an input signal from the inputdevice 11 and/or the input of voice command from the microphone 8 (stepST4) and at the same time, as shown in FIG. 4A, displays on the screen a“voice reception state icon” 13 of “VOICE” to show a state of receptionof voice command.

When the user inputs voice to the microphone 8, the voice recognitionsection 5 recognizes the input voice. At this time, the voicerecognition section 5 reads a recognition parameter for the useridentified at step ST2 from the memory 3 and recognizes the voice by theuse of this parameter (step ST5). For example, in a case where the userdesires to retrieve a near gas station, when the user utters a voicecommand of “Near gas station”, a voice command “Near gas station” isinput from the microphone 8.

Next, the control section 2 identifies which command of a plurality ofvoice commands that can be acceptable to the apparatus is uttered by theuser. If the control section 2 can identify the voice command input, thecontrol section 2 determines that the state of voice of voice command isgood and executes a processing corresponding to the identified voicecommand (step ST7).

Here, “Near gas station” is input by the user as the voice command, sothe vehicle mounted apparatus recognizes the voice command and henceretrieves a near gas station and displays the result of retrieval. Inthis regard, as shown in FIG. 4B, in order to show the state ofoperation to the user, “Near gas station is now being retrieved” isdisplayed during the operation.

On the other hand, when the control section 2 cannot identify the voicecommand input, the control section 2 determines that a state of voicefor the voice command is not good and analyzes the reason of the stateof voice not good (step ST8). At this point, the analysis of the reasonstate of voice not good will be described later in detail. Further, thecontrol section 2 changes display on the screen of display device 6(step ST9) on the basis of the analysis results of state of voice whichis shown in FIG. 5 with slanted lines, for example, change of color(meaning will be described later) and again waits for a voice command tobe input (step ST3).

Here, changing display on the screen means displaying an iconcorresponding to the state of voice, changing the color of an icon orthe whole screen which are already displayed in response to the state ofvoice, blinking the icon or the whole screen which are already displayed(in this case, an interval of blinking or the pattern of blinking ischanged in response to the state of voice), displaying the state ofvoice as character information, and further using these operations incombination. In this regard, any display method can be employed as faras the user can visually recognize the state of voice when the userlooks at the screen of display device 6.

Finally, the control section 2 detects on the basis of an electricsignal or the like from the input device 11 or a power supply key viathe interface 10 whether or not the user performs an operation offinishing a processing of vehicle mounted apparatus (step ST12). At thispoint, when the user does not perform the operation of finishing, thecontrol section 2 repeats the processing following step ST3. On theother hand, when the user performs the operation of finishing, theprocessing is finished.

Next, the operation of vehicle mounted apparatus in the operationguidance mode will be described. At this point, for the sake ofconvenience in description, a case where a facility is retrieved so asto set a destination will be described as an example.

When the user selects the operation guidance mode, the control section 2displays an initial screen on the display device 6 (step ST10) as shownin FIG. 6A. This initial screen is a screen to provide the user with amenu capable of giving the user guidance on operation by the use ofoperation guidance mode. In this case, the operation guidance modeincludes “basic operation”, “address retrieval”, “facility retrieval”,and “periphery retrieval”.

Next, the control section 2 detects a command input to the input device11 by the user, and when the command is “facility retrieval”, thecontrol section 2 displays an operation describing screen shown in FIG.6B (step ST11). In this display of describing operation, the controlsection 2 reads from the memory 3 a method of uttering a voice commandrelating to the selected command and displays it on the display device6. Since “facility retrieval” is selected in this case, the controlsection 2 displays “Utter the names of the prefecture and the name offacility consecutively” as the method of uttering the voice commandcorresponding thereto, and receives input of voice command by the user.

At this point the operation guidance mode is usually performed firstlywhen use of the control apparatus of the present invention is begun, andin such a case input of user name to be registered in the memory 3 isperformed through the input device 11 at step ST2, and the controlsection 2 stores the voice command input at the above describedoperation guidance mode by the user in memory 3 as a specific standardpattern of the voice recognition parameters for the registered user.

Moreover, the control section 2 reads from the memory 3 an examplesentence of a voice command relating to the command now selected anddisplays the example sentence on the display device 6. Since “facilityretrieval” is selected in this case, “XX Zoo, Tokyo”, “YY Station,Kanagawa Prefecture” and “ZZ Land, Chiba Prefecture” are displayed asexample sentences. Here, it is also recommended that the displayedsentence is output as voice from the speaker 9 to make the userrecognize the sentence as voice.

In this regard, it is also recommended that when the control section 2detects “to look at demonstration” as a command input to the inputdevice 11 by the user, as shown in FIG. 6B, general operation includingthe operation of input device 11 (for example, “to press theconversation starting switch” at the time of inputting voice) bedescribed. That is, in this case, when the user utters “the name ofprefecture” and “the name of facility”, the user needs to press theconversation starting switch 12 and hence in order to make the user knowthat he needs “to press the conversation starting switch at the time ofinputting voice”, it is visually displayed.

Next, the operation of analysis of the state of voice will be described.

Assume that the user issues a voice command while pressing theconversation starting switch 12. When the control section 2 detects thatthe conversation starting switch 12 is pressed down, the control section2 records voice received by the microphone 8 in the memory 3 whiledetecting the switch 12 continues to be pressed down.

Next, when the control section 2 detects finish of detection that theconversation starting switch 12 is pressed down, the control section 2finishes recording the voice in the memory 3 and instructs the voicerecognition section 5 to analyze the recorded voice. The voicerecognition section 5 analyzes the features of voice according to apublicly known voice recognition algorithm and records the analysisresults in the memory 3. For example, the voice recognition section 5compares the standard pattern of voice of the user previously stored inthe memory 3 with the pattern of input voice to analyze a plurality offeatures, for example, sound level, uttering speed, uttering timing, andwhether or not unnecessary words (hereinafter referred to as “incidentalword”) are included and outputs analysis results.

Next, the control section 2 determines whether or not the state of inputvoice is good on the basis of analysis results. Any parameter whichshows the ease of voice recognition, can be used to determine whether ornot the state of input voice is good. For example, when it is detectedthat any one of sound level, uttering speed, uttering timing, and thepresence or absence of incidental words is “not good”, the controlsection 2 determines that total analysis result is “not good”. On theother hand, when all the analysis results for each item of analysis are“good”, the control section 2 determined that total analysis result is“good”.

Here, when the control sections 2 determines that the analysis result isgood, as described above, the control section 2 executes the recognizedvoice command. On the other hand, when the control sections 2 determinesthat the analysis result is “not good”, as described above, the controlsection 2 changes the display of screen on the basis of display formatassociated with the analysis result. The analysis result corresponds tothe display format in a manner shown in FIG. 7 and this correspondenceis stored in the memory 3. For example, when the control section 2recognizes that the analysis result is “not good” because “sound levelis high”, the control section 2 refers to a state-of-voicecorrespondence table stored in the memory 3 and recognizes that a colorcorresponding to a case of “sound level is high” is “blue”. Further, thecontrol section 2 changes the color of an icon displayed on the screen,for example, the color of the above described icon 13 of “VOICE” to showthe state of reception of voice, is changed “blue” in this case as astate shown in FIG. 5 with slanted lines and again waits for an input ofcommand by voice. At this point, the icon on which the change of displayformat is performed, is not limited to the icon 13 of “VOICE” to showthe state of reception of voice but may be an icon to show the presentposition. Further, the whole screen may be changed to blue.

Here, in the analysis results, “sound level is high” and “sound level islow” are the analysis results from a viewpoint of “sound level”, and“conversation speed is high” and “conversation speed is low” are theanalysis results from a viewpoint of “conversation speed”, and“conversation timing is early” and “conversation timing is late” are theanalysis results from a viewpoint of “conversation timing”. Hence, asfor a color corresponding to the analysis results from the sameviewpoint, a color of the same group may be used. That is, as describedabove, “sound level is high” and “sound level is low” are the analysisresults from a viewpoint of “sound level”, so they are displayed in acolor of the same group, for example, “sound level is high” is displayedin “blue” and “sound level is low” is displayed in “greenish sky blue”.Further, when a level is higher than a standard, for example, “high” and“early”, a dark color is used and when a level is lower than a standard,for example, “low” and “late”, a light color is used. With this, theuser understands what is wrong from the group of color and can get asense of “higher than a standard” or “lower than a standard” from theshades of gray.

Next, an analysis of voice will be described in detail.

For example, whether the input voice is good or not is determined by thefollowing method.

(1.) Incidental Word at the Beginning of Sentence

The voice recognition section 5 compares the standard pattern of anincidental word stored in the memory 3 with the input voice and producesan output to the effect that analysis result is “not good” when thebeginning of voice is in good agreement with the standard pattern ofincidental word. On the other hand, when the voice does not have anyincidental word at the beginning of voice, the voice recognition section5 produces an output to the effect that analysis result is “good”.

(2) Sound Level

The voice recognition section 5 detects whether or not the sound levelof input voice is within a predetermined range and produces an output tothe effect that analysis result is “not good” when the sound level isnot within the predetermined range. On the other hand, when the soundlevel is within the predetermined range, the voice recognition section 5produces an output to the effect that analysis result is “good”. Thepredetermined range is set at a range of less than 0 dB to −30 dB whenthe maximum value of sound level to be detected by the microphone 8 is 0dB.

(3) Conversation Pace

The voice recognition section 5 measures the length of time of the inputvoice and compares this length of time with the length of time of thestandard pattern and determines that the conversation pace is good whena difference between them is within a predetermined range.

This predetermined range can be arbitrarily set and, for example, adifference of the length of time of the input voice can be set at arange of +25% to −25% of the length of time of the standard pattern.

(4) Uttering Timing

The voice recognition section 5 determines whether or not the utteringtiming of input voice is within a predetermined range of voiceacceptable timing. At this point, the voice recognition section 5produces an output to the effect that analysis result is “good” when theuttering timing is within the predetermined range. On the other hand,when the uttering timing is not within the predetermined range, thevoice recognition section 5 produces an output to the effect thatanalysis result is “not good”. For example, when voice has been begun toinput at the beginning of a period during which the microphone 8 canacquire the voice, the voice recognition section 5 produces an output tothe effect that analysis result is “not good”. On the other hand, incases where the input voice has not yet completed to utter for a periodmore than the maximum input time of voice command or where a voice inputis detected only at the end of the above described period during whichthe microphone 8 can acquire the voice, the voice recognition section 5produces an output to the effect that analysis result is “not good”. Inthe cases other than these cases, the voice recognition section 5produces an output to the effect that analysis result is “good”.

(5) Incidental Word at the End of Sentence

As is the case with the detection of an incidental word at the beginningof a sentence, the voice recognition section 5 detects whether or notthere is an incidental word at the end of a sentence. When the voicerecognition section 5 detects an incidental word, the voice recognitionsection 5 produces an output to the effect that analysis result is “notgood”. On the other hand, when the voice recognition section 5 does notdetect an incidental word at the end of sentence, the voice recognitionsection 5 produces an output to the effect that analysis result is“good”.

Next, a set of example sentences will be described in detail. FIG. 8 isa list in which the contents of voice commands are correlated withexample sentences that the user utters so as to execute the respectivevoice commands.

The sentences of the contents (a) to (e) of voice commands, shown inthis drawing, include a plurality of commands of different diction andthe voice recognition section 5 can recognize voice commands on thebasis of a plurality of voices uttered by the different diction.

In this regard, while the above description has been given with aparticular emphasis on the car navigation apparatus, the vehicle mountedcontrol apparatus of the present invention is not limited to thisexample but the present invention can be applied to any type of vehiclemounted control apparatus for operating electronic devices inside andoutside of the vehicle. For instance, the vehicle mounted controlapparatus includes of a control apparatus for controlling vehiclemounted electronic devices, for example, an air conditioner, an audiounit and the like. Moreover, as a control apparatus for controllingelectronic devices outside of the vehicle may be thought, for example, acontrol apparatus for controlling various kinds of electronic devicesoutside of the vehicle through a transmitter which is connected to theinterface 10. The electronic devices outside of the vehicle include allkinds of electronic devices which are connected by a communicationslines, for example, an air conditioner intended for home use orcommercial use, a home security system, a home server, other electricappliances, an automated paying machine installed at a store such as afast food store or a gas station, and a gate installed at the entranceand exit of a parking lot.

Further, in the control apparatus in FIG. 1, while an example has beenshown as the voice recognition section 5 which is constructed of an LSIfor voice recognition, the voice recognition section 5 is not limited toa case where it is constructed of a hardware circuit designedexclusively for voice recognition but may employ a software program forvoice recognition. In this case, the program for voice recognition isexecuted by the control section 2 or a separate processor usedexclusively for voice recognition.

Still further, in the above embodiment, while an example of the voicerecognition processing is given in which the voice recognition section 5performs voice analysis as a preliminary processing and the controlsection 2 executes a processing of displaying advice by use of theresult of analysis, but the control section 2 can executes also thevoice analysis itself.

Still further, in the above described embodiment, while the recognitionparameters of a plurality of users are registered, because there alsocases where only one specified user uses the control apparatus, it isnot always necessary to classify the users when there is no specificneed. In a case where only one specified user uses the controlapparatus, a processing of registering users a step ST2 in FIG. 3 is notrequired.

As for the memory 3, a volatile and/or nonvolatile memory can be used.Moreover, a storage device such as a hard disk and DVD-RAM can be usedas storage device.

Industrial Applicability

As described above, a vehicle mounted control apparatus in accordancewith the present invention is applicable to a car navigation apparatus.

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 9. A vehicle mounted controlapparatus comprising: voice recognition section for recognizing a voicecommand input by an voice input device; and a control section thatanalyzes a cause of incapability of recognition of the voice commandwhen the voice command cannot be recognized by the voice recognitionsection and gives a notice on result of the analysis.
 10. The vehiclemounted control apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein said notice isperformed by a change of display format on a display device.
 11. Avehicle mounted control apparatus comprising: voice recognition sectionfor recognizing a voice command input by an voice input device; acontrol section that analyzes a cause of incapability of recognition ofthe voice command when the voice command cannot be recognized by thevoice recognition section; and a storage section that previously storesa display format corresponding to a result of the analysis, wherein thecontrol section reads the display format corresponding to the result ofanalysis from the storage section and changes a display format of ascreen of display device on the basis of the read display format. 12.The vehicle mounted control apparatus as claimed in claim 10, whereinthe display format is a display format of an icon displayed on thescreen.
 13. The vehicle mounted control apparatus as claimed in claim11, wherein the display format is a display format of an icon displayedon the screen.
 14. The vehicle mounted control apparatus as claimed inclaim 12, wherein the display format of the icon is a color of the icondisplayed on the screen.
 15. The vehicle mounted control apparatus asclaimed in claim 13 wherein the display format of the icon is a color ofthe icon displayed on the screen.
 16. A vehicle mounted controlapparatus comprising: voice recognition section for recognizing a voicecommand input by a voice input device; and a control section thatanalyzes a cause of incapability of recognition of the voice commandwhen the voice command cannot be recognized by the voice recognitionsection and gives a notice on result of the analysis, wherein thecontrol section provides with a sample of the voice command to be input.17. The vehicle mounted control apparatus as claimed in claim 16,wherein the sample of the voice command is provided by displaying on thescreen of a display device.